With much fanfare the City unveiled the Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy ordinance requiring that property owners renting out their homes or apartments get a certificate from the City indicating that the unit meets basic health and safety standards before it is occupied. Being that Glenwood has a large number of rental homes, I took it upon myself to spend two weeks back in April using the City's RUCO database to see whether homes which had For Rent signs in their yards or were listed on craigslist.org had a RUCO certificate. Of the 17 properties I looked up in the database, only 3 had existing certificates. Initially I was told by Local Ordinance Enforcement staff that if we submitted addresses to them they would send a letter out to the property owners informing them of the new ordinance. Two weeks later I found out in a follow-up phone call that not all staff were on the same page, and that, in fact, they do not send out letters to property owners when notified of a violation.
Here is the problem, per city staff, enforcement will only be taken if someone has moved into the unit and only then if there is evidence of a lease. I know that in one case, students living in a home two doors from me, had only a verbal lease but were living in a home without a certificate. They moved out at the end of May and now new tenants have moved in to the same house. Once again I looked the address up in the City's database and there is still no certificate for the property and so today I called them again. My sense with this issue, and with the front yard parking ordinance, the City is happy with the image that they are doing something about an issue by creating an ordinance, but an ordinance is only so good as the willingness to enforce it. The City really needs to step up to the plate in the early days of these ordinances to show that they mean business.
At some point, I will plan to request from the City a listing of all of the violations of RUCO since the law went into effect and what actions the City has taken. Same for the Front Yard Parking Ordinance. Maybe there are some other folks out there interested in accountability who would be willing to help me with this task. In the meantime, I will continue to report violations of the RUCO ordinance to the City's LOE.
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Thursday, July 23, 2009
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5 comments:
Jordan Green: Thanks for this post. We've written about this in YES! Weekly.
I've lived in the same apartment in Westerwood for four and a half years. When I checked last fall, my apartment did not have a RUCO certificate. I learned from your article that enforcement will only take place when there
is evidence of a lease. I have never had a lease with my landlord, and he has never raised my rent, which is a very reasonable amount. My dilemma is this: I don't know if my apartment has any violations, but I would like the assurance that it is up to code. However, I don't want to report my apartment to the Department of Engineering and Inspections because of the
possibility that if violations are found that need to be corrected my landlord will pass along the costs to me in the form of a rent increase. I
would prefer that the city conduct universal inspection so that tenants are not perceived as troublemakers by their landlords. Is it too much to ask the city to locate all the rental housing and ensure that it's certified?
yes weelky has some interesting articles from the past on ruco here is the link and remember that after the city inspected all the units that now with the new rules it has been watered down thanks to the special interest group trebic
to see articles go to yes weekly and type in ruco
You could review the standards set by the Minimum Housing Commission and review the items yourself or hire a home inspector to do this...it would probably cost you a few hundred dollars to do so, but it could give you peace of mind. If your complex doesn't have a certificate, it would not have to get one until it rents a unit that becomes available. AND, it will only inspect it if the tenant makes a complaint or a citizen does.
As of January 1, 2009, It is illegal to rent a house or apartment without a RUCO Certificate, However if you were living in the unit prior to that date, a certificate is NOT required. It cannot be rented after you moveout until inspected and a certificate issued.
Wayne, you are absolutely right, but the city is not enforcing this part of the ordinance. That part covers the first poster on this thread. More to the point, the way they are enforcing it, by wanting to see a lease AFTER a tenant has moved in is backwards. If a tenant moves in and THEN the city deems it unrentable due to the lack of a certificate, then it is an inconvenience to the tenant who will likely need to move again until it is brought up to code. The City could choose to be proactive when a situation is brought to their attention - i.e., BEFORE it is rented, but while it is actively listed for rent, to notify the property owner of their need to get a certificate and notifying them of the consequences of renting it without one.
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